Federal Grant Considered For Homeless

Pompano Might Give Group $50,000 To Help Rehabilitate Ten

POMPANO BEACH — St. Laurence Chapel, a nonprofit homeless program operated by Episcopal Mental Health Ministries, could receive $50,000 from the city to hire a nurse and social worker.

Founded five years ago, the chapel provides 65 to 120 homeless people per day with food, showers, clothing and medical assistance. It does not provide them with a place to sleep.

The commission has tentatively approved a request from St. Laurence Chapel to hire a part-time nurse and part-time clinical social worker and is considering giving the chapel $50,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money. Before the $50,000 could be approved, the commission needs to adopt a legal agreement.

The chapel has employed a nurse before, but the Rev. Timothy Stover, the chapel's director, said the social worker's position is new.

``This will supplement what we've always been doing,'' Stover said.

The St. Laurence Chapel, 101 NE First St., has been the target of complaints from residents of Old Pompano, a neighborhood east of Dixie Highway and north of Atlantic Boulevard. Residents and business owners say vagrants who use the center sleep in their back yards, doorways, trash bins and parks.

Jim Farris, a Pompano Beach resident whose business is one block north of the chapel, is opposed to the grant.

``Where's the balance?'' Farris asked. ``The people who live and work and own property and pay taxes are pretty much ignored by the commission. Fifty thousand dollars would go a long way in this area for improved lighting or landscaping or a seed for redeveloping this area.''

The goal of the grant would be to help 10 homeless people become self-sufficient within 18 months, and to reduce the homeless population by two people within a year.

``We feel confident we can do that,'' Stover said. ``We hope to do far beyond that.''

An estimated 6,000 homeless people are in Broward County. Many suffer from mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, or other serious health problems.

About 50 percent of the homeless in Broward live in Fort Lauderdale, 18 percent are in north Broward County, and 12 percent live in south Broward. The rest are scattered around the county.

In the next few years, the county plans to build a 200-bed center in north Broward that will offer a variety of social services to the homeless.